Portsmouth swept out of D-II tennis final

Wednesday

May 29, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Mike ZhePortsmouth Herald

BEDFORD — Bobby Rizkalla had already spent 80 minutes on the court, staved off two match points and seen the other team effectively celebrate a state championship when his last forehand found the net, ending his 9-7 loss in singles.

For top-seeded Portsmouth High School, even the moral victories were hard to come by on Tuesday.

The Clippers’ bid for their first state title since 2007 was steamrolled by second-seeded Hanover, which swept all six singles matches and three more in doubles to win, 9-0, in the Division II final at Bedford High School.

“Obviously, we’re very disappointed,” said top player Iani Stamenov, who lost 8-1 at No. 1 singles and 8-6 with Rizkalla at first doubles. “I definitely could have had a way better showing.”

Both teams entered the title match with 16-0 records but there was some definite contrast. The Marauders had lost only two games all season; all other opponents they beat by a 9-0 score, including Souhegan in the quarterfinals and local rival Lebanon in the semifinals last week.

The Clippers, meanwhile, needed every winner they could muster in staving off Oyster River, 5-4, in their semifinal.

“We were seeded one,” said Portsmouth coach Seab Stanton, “but Hanover was obviously the cream of the crop this year.”

Only Rizkalla, in his No. 2 singles match against Christian Mueller, won more than four games. He showed resiliency, coming back from 5-3 down to take a 7-5 lead, but couldn’t string together enough good shots to close it out.

He battled back to a deuce on Mueller’s serve at 7-5, but dropped the next two points to lose the game. Then he was broken at 15-40 and the match was all square, 7-7.

With the other matches long since finished, the two undefeated players had the stage to themselves. Mueller held his serve at deuce and then battled back on Rizkalla’s serve to gain a match point.

But Rizkalla came to the net, made the volley and fended off the point. He did it again a few minutes later, staying alive with an unforced error.

But the third time wasn’t his charm. When he loaded up a forehand and hit it into the net, he’d lost in singles for the first time all spring, Mueller had won the marathon and the Marauders had finished off a clean sweep in singles.

“The kid just kept running me out,” said Rizkalla. “I thought I was going to pull through. He was just getting everything I got back.”

“It’s a cliché, but he left everything on the court,” said Stanton. “Unfortunately, his backhand abandoned him today. He was slicing it back, which put him on the defensive.”

Stamenov was defeated 8-1 by freshman phenom Kotaro Horiuchi, who has not lost this season. After losing the first game at love, Stamenov crafted a good service game of his own, holding at 40-15 to make it 1-1 and giving early indications this would be a match.

But it was all Horiuchi from there. Stamenov lost his next serve at love to fall behind 3-1. He got up 30-0 trying to break back but then watched his freshman foe with the next four points, including a superb job of muscle control at the net when he changed his direction after a return clipped the tape, and then hit a great drop volley.

“I did a horrible job neutralizing his serve,” said Stamenov. “I could have done way better than that. But no excuses. He was the better man today.”

Patrick Duplessis (No. 3, 8-0), Eric Egeland (No. 4, 8-2), Chris Rossi (No. 5, 8-4) and Ryan Bergeron (No. 6, 8-3) were all dispatched in singles, too.In doubles, the Clippers’ No. 2 (Duplessis and Dolan) and No. 3 (Egeland and Rossi) teams both lost by 8-4 counts.This was Hanover’s ninth appearance in the Division II finals in the last 11 years. It finished as the runner-up to Bedford in each of the last two seasons, gladly taking on the role of preseason favorite when that program moved up to Division I this year.

“We weren’t happy seeing Bedford move up,” said Lewis. “And I don’t think it matters which way you win. It matters that you win. Nobody on this team had celebrated (a state title) before.”

Stamenov headlines the cast of returnees for Portsmouth, which was playing in its first final since 2008. The goal for the offseason, said Stanton, is for returning players to embrace improving the way players like Rossi, who climbed from No. 12 on the depth chart to No. 5.

There was a runner-up plaque headed back to the Port City on Tuesday night — along with the knowledge that there’s a long way to go before a championship plaque can be claimed.

“The plan was if we could just stay on the court long enough, we thought we could make them sweat and have a chance to win,” said Stanton.

No sweat. No chance.

No title.

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